Chaser

Chaser is a gritty, high-energy crime thriller with a flawed, likable protagonist. It’s a fast-paced read that kept me turning pages, finishing it in two sittings, and wishing I’d bought the next two Jinx Ballou books so I could keep on reading.

I was only hoping for a fun read, a straightforward thriller, but this was deeper and darker than I expected. Jinx fits right in with more familiar characters in the genre, particularly those vulnerable, snake-bitten protagonists who suffer bad luck and get beaten up. A lot. Seriously, Jinx gets punched, tased, kicked around, and shot, leaving her in pretty rough shape at one point, with bandages and a concussion. The central mystery of Holly Schwartz, the disabled girl accused of murdering her mother, is interesting in the way it throws up twists and turns and leads us from doubt to sympathy through shock and amazement, but it was the subplot of Volkov, the Chechen mobster, that ratcheted up the stalker tension, the creep factor, and the body count.

The transgender element here was both more significant and less sensationalized than I expected. This is not a book about transitioning, but Jinx being transgender is integral to the story. Her identity defines her, a very public outing challenges her, and the cruel transphobia of colleagues makes an already impossible case even more difficult to navigate. She’s never a victim, though, and the lower people try to drag her the higher she climbs. Oh, and in addition to being a kick-ass bounty hunter, martial arts expert, ex-cop, and feminist icon, she’s a transgender beauty who cosplays as Wonder Woman in her spare time. Seriously, she’s amazing.

Well-written, with a solid supporting cast that includes colleagues, close family, and an extended family within the LGBT community, Chaser is an action-packed thriller that would lend itself extremely well to a cinematic take. It genuinely kept me guessing as to how it would all play out, and the dark surprises of the climax were bigger and better than I expected. It’s one of those books where you think it’s over, despite the page count remaining, only to find subplots converging in sickening ways. Next up, Extreme Prejudice ups the ante by pitting Jinx against White Nation terrorists, while A Broken Woman takes a more social turn, forcing Jinx to choose between upholding the law and pursuing justice for a fellow transgender woman.

This piece is aired worldwide on This Way Out (TWO), the syndicated LGBT radio show. (TWO is the first international LGBTQ radio news magazine.)
Despite the fact that I am (still) filled with lesbian rage, I am a nonviolent person – if not by nature, then by principle.
But, at the same time, I have to admit that a woman hero avenging injustice gives me a little thrill. Lately, I’ve developed an intellectual reasoning to this: we need more feminist heroines. We need to keep believing that a woman protecting other women is possible and we need to keep thinking that it’s important.
Reading Chaser (a Jinx Ballou novel) published in 2018 by Pariah Press furthered my thinking on this. The book was written by Dharma Kelleher who is heralded as one of the top authors in transgender crime fiction.
I don’t ordinarily read mysteries. But when I do I am impressed with the suspense and tension inherent in the form, and I always learn something new. As a non-mystery reader, I found that the book was a delightful and suspenseful page turner with heart.
The narrator, Jinx Ballou, is a bounty hunter hired to bring a teenage disabled girl — charged with her mother’s murder — back to face her charges in court. The girl has skipped bail which is why Jinx was hired to find her.
Jinx takes on this case after she is outed by a local newspaper as transgender and is fired by her former agency.
Jinx is astounded to discover that simply by knowing she is transgender can make it now obvious that her employer is small minded. As the author writes:
“I sighed, even as my heart revved in my chest like a race car engine. ‘I’ve always been a girl, Sara Jean. It’s just that through some crazy mix-up of biochemistry or genetics, I was born with a boy’s body. It’s hard to explain.’
“She fixed her gaze on me once again. ‘Ain’t nothing to explain. Boys is boys, and girls is girls. God made you what you are. Ain’t no changing it.’
‘I wish it were that simple, Sara Jean, but it’s not. I’, — ‘
‘Perverts like you’s what’s wrong with this world. Making it dangerous for God-fearing folks to use public restrooms.’
‘A pervert? Seriously, Sara Jean, is that what you think I am?’ I rolled my eyes. ‘Want to know what trans people do in public restrooms? We pee. We poop. And we wash our hands which is more than I can say for some people.”
And so the author proves her point. Discrimination that can be proven with the prohibition of use of public restrooms, is absolutely ridiculous.
Jinx goes on to find new work, gets her girl who she develops great empathy toward. While doing so, she confronts a mobster running a human trafficking operation. I observed that in many ways this novel contained many mysteries including who outed Jinx to the reporter, and why should the fact that she is transgender matter anyway?
And so I learned a lot from Chaser, but perhaps most of all, I learned that yes, given the right circumstances, I can count myself as a fan of crime fiction.

Great story, informative, unusual twists and turns. Can’t wait for the next book in this series.